Blues coach Pat Lam was close to tears on Wednesday as he responded to racist taunts levelled at his family through social media.

The former Samoa flanker has been the subject of debate in recent weeks due to the Blues' poor start to the Super Rugby season, where they have lost five of their six matches to date, and certain fans have resorted to slurs against his Pacific Island heritage.

Lam's parents moved to New Zealand from Samoa, with their son representing the All Blacks in a tour match before a successful Test career with Samoa, for whom he played 34 times.

"It's sad really, it really is," Lam said. "It has been on going and you know we totally accept the criticism that we get particularly when people put names on it. We deserve what we get when we don't win just as we deserve it when we win.

"But it's the faceless people, the social media and so forth where people say things that are pretty offensive things, making out that it's because I'm an Islander that we're losing. That's just offensive.

"Certainly my parents, they gave up... sorry... they gave up, sacrificed themselves for us to come here and have a good life, yeah, so it hurts my parents. Sorry, sorry."